Things that never happened
by TimetravelingArchaeologist
Summary: Things that never happened... ( Because of the outbreak.) A look at what might have happened in an AU verse. (With more characters than I can tag here.)


**AN: ****I own nothing of The Walking Dead, it's characters, or anything else recognizable.**

**I wrote this awhile ago and never posted it because I am lazy and I wasn't sure if I really like it all that much. But I figure I finished it so I should at least post it.**

xx

The girl at the bar was pretty, a girl like that wouldn't ever give him the time of day, Glenn knew that. But then sometimes he was a little naive. He liked to take little risks, that had after all been the reason he'd left home in the first place. For the opportunity to do things without having to live up to his family's expectations or standards.

He was awkward, but she was nice about it. He thought he'd been making some sort of headway, he should have known better. No girl wanted a skinny geeky guy like him. He might be the hero in a videogame, but the broad shouldered sandy haired guy she smiled at as he came through the door, that was her type. He nodded awkwardly as she excused herself.

"It was real nice talkin' to ya Glenn. Maybe see you another time."

"Yeah, you too Maggie." When he left he didn't go back, it wasn't like she meant it anyway.

xx

Hershel Greene stared at the amber liquid in the glass in front of him. It was his fifth glass of the night and that was five more than he'd had in a long time. He'd been an alcoholic nearly all his life, but until today he'd at least been a recovering one. Then again it wasn't every day you laid your youngest in the ground. He hadn't even known she'd been sad about anything, let alone sad enough to take her own life. He took another drink, no longer registering the burn as it slid down his throat. He figured it didn't matter much now anyhow. His wife was in her own despair, his eldest daughter grown, step son too. And Bethie, his little doodle bug, she was gone now. Wasn't ever coming back.

He finished the drink and thought about ordering another. But he had a full bottle sitting in the passenger seat of his old red suburban. He threw some money on the counter and grabbed his keys. Being alone with that bottle sounded a hell of alot better than sitting in this bar full of strangers.

xx

Carol Peletier felt freer than she had in a very long time. She'd been working to save and hide away money here and there for what seemed like forever. A few dollars here and there from the grocery money, and then this last month she didn't pay the electric at all. She didn't really care much if it got shut off. She wasn't planning to still be there, and it was in Ed's name anyway.

She packed up the things she knew that she would need. Picture albums, clothes, Sophia's favorite things, keepsakes. It wasn't much and it was all easily packed into her Cherokee. They were starting over, whatever else they needed they'd get once they got where they were going. They really only needed each other anyway.

She picked up Sophia from school, Sophia knew that today was the day. They drove like it was any other Friday afternoon, but it wasn't until they were miles away from their town that her daughter spoke about it being different. "What if he comes after us Mom?" She could tell her daughter was nervous. Carol turned to lock eyes with her daughter. "He won't ever hurt us again sweetheart, I won't let him. We're free of your daddy."

And he wouldn't, Ed would never have the chance. She never even saw the big red suburban jump the line. They were dead on impact.

xx

Daryl wished he could say that he expected something better out of life, but that wouldn't have been true. He expected pretty much everything that ever happened to him. Good things, good people, they didn't happen to a man like Daryl Dixon.

And now here he was doing twenty five to life for a murder his brother committed while higher than a fucking kite. Daryl was guilty alright. Guilty of being born, guilty by association.

Of course Merle wasn't gonna go down for it because he'd overdosed, and the fact that Daryl had been the one to find both of the bodies in his trailer was enough for a conviction. And he couldn't really say that he didn't expect any of that either because he'd grown up with Merle, followed him voluntarily for too goddamn many years. So even if he wasn't guilty of the crime he's been sent away for, he sure as hell knew he was guilty for about a thousand other lesser things. So maybe this was justice after all. Maybe this was karma coming back to kick his ass for all the things he'd ever done that his daddy said he did, and that Merle made him do. And if it wasn't it didn't matter anymore anyway. He was exactly where everyone else thought he ought to end up and there wasn't a damn thing he could have done about it.

xx

Sometimes Rick Grimes wondered where he went wrong in his marriage. Wondered if there was something he could have done or said that would have fixed things. He thought that he'd tried, but eventually things changed when Lori said he was done waiting for him to change. Which was funny because he hadn't ever really thought that she had wanted him to be anything like Shane Walsh, but apparently Shane being Shane was just fine, or at least he thought maybe he must be because Lori moved in with him before the ink was even dry on the divorce papers.

Eventually things were just too damn tense when Lori and Shane announced they were expecting. Rick moved to an entirely different county, took a job at the local police department and managed to arrange to have Carl during the school year.

After awhile he didn't even feel like he'd ever been that man that lived in the too cold house in King County. Not that the new apartment wasn't lonely sometimes, even with Carl there. But sometimes Andrea, that lawyer he met at the courthouse, comes over and that's nice. And once in awhile her sister visits and it starts to feel more and more like he might have a family again one day.

xx

He loved Lori, Shane was sure that he did. But that didn't matter anymore because she was gone now. It was funny, all the doctors and the medical equipment and a thousand and one other advancements in medicine, and none of it could save her or their baby. And now he'd destroyed and lost everyone that ever mattered to him.

The world kept spinning anyway, and six months later he figured that it would spin no matter what he did. So he did what he did best. Drank a little too much on his nights off, flirted with the nurses down at the hospital when he was in the ER on a call, and kept on being who he'd been before he ever crossed that line with his once best friend's wife.

xx

Michonne wasn't sure that things could be any better than they were on days like today. Andre smiled widely at her from where she sat on that little park bench, watching him as he squealed and chased after a little girl twice his age wearing a pink sundress.

"That one must be yours, think he's got his eye on mine there."

Michonne looked up to see a handsome man leaning against the end of the bench.

"I think you might be right. Gonna have to have a talk with him about older women when we get home," she replied with a laugh. The man chuckled richly back at her and sat down on the other end of the bench before extending a hand towards her.

"Phillip."

"Nice to meet you Phillip."

Both were single, Michonne now by choice and Philip by tragic accident, but nothing ever bloomed on the romantic side of things no matter how charming he was. Though that was the afternoon that Michonne met someone that she'd count as a friend long into her life. Someone she could call to pick up her son when she couldn't, someone she could swap babysitting with, or use as a stand in date last minute. Someone she couldn't ever imagine not knowing.

xx

Edwin Jenner knew he was a lucky man. He'd known it since the moment he met Candace. She was funny and sweet, and so much more than he'd ever thought he'd deserve in a woman. Brilliant beyond what anyone else knew then. He always knew that she was destined to be the one that would make discoveries that would alter the world on a grand scale.

Sure he had his moments where he felt like he was still drawing with crayons and was jealous of the masterpieces she was turning out with things he could only dream of using, but they were fleeting. He was happy to be the support system, the sounding board, and to tinker in the background. But he was never happier or prouder of her or his role in the universe than he was that afternoon when she stood in front of millions of people on camera and was celebrated for her breakthrough medical research that eliminated the HIV virus.

xx

His dad always said that he was impulsive, reckless with his life. He hadn't been a bad kid really, but he had been a broken one. His mother died when he was still young, his parents were at best, at odds with one another before that, and he often felt like he was the cause.

When Carl was a boy he wanted nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps, join the sheriff's department, become a cop, something in law enforcement that would prove to his father that he was a man like him.

When Carl was 19 he joined the Army, another impulsive and reckless decision according to Rick. Carl however was happy with the choice. At least he was until he was 26 and took his last breath on North Korean soil.


End file.
